US spy agency cyber chief warns TikTok is China’s ‘Trojan horse’

Politicians and cybersecurity experts have repeatedly raised concerns that TikTok’s parent company has too much insight into its 150 million monthly US users, and allege that steps the app has taken to separate data is not enough to keep it from a prying Beijing government. — AFP

Rob Joyce, the head of the US National Security Agency’s cybersecurity arm, said popular video-sharing app TikTok is China’s “Trojan horse” and poses a long-term, strategic cybersecurity concern.

Joyce said it was critical that the US government monitor TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd to avoid a security incident “five, 10 or 20” years down the line, as opposed to an imminent, “tactical” threat.